One More Step
by fat boy running
Summary: Kida stood in front of her, watching as each word poured from her lips and lashed another wound onto him.  And as she walked away, he couldn't move.  It was that one step he just couldn't take. / Kida Oneshot


Two silhouettes contrasted against the fiery sun hovering over the horizon, its dazzling rays licking across the sky in a multitude of purple, pink and orange hues. The exquisite blend painted across the clouds and over the two figure's heads, holding the end of another autumn day.

There stood Kida, facing the one person he had dreaded since the moment he had heard she had been released from the hospital.

"I never thought that all we had would be all for nothing."

The gang leader's amber eyes were drowning in pain in spite of the composed mask layering over his features. The usual grin his lips instinctively curled into had evaporated, pressed together into a collected, thin line.

He searched the familiar face for any betraying emotion, any slight crack through the tough façade she wore. Frustration coursed through his veins as his ending result proved to be futile, the defiance too thick to rupture. He couldn't recover any weakness. He couldn't find any trace of the girl he once had fallen in love with.

Where was she?

"I can't do this," she echoed the words that inflicted agony just by hearing them, malice tainting her tone. The blond recoiled in response.

"Saki, please, I'm… I'm sorry." His apology drifted into the tense air, shattering amid the pressure. He stumbled over his scattered thoughts, fumbling to form any coherent sentences. The proverbial ache throbbed against his ribcage, haunting memories drifting before his desolate orbs.

Why couldn't he take another step?

"Well, sorry didn't heal my broken bones, did it?" The spiteful undertone was apparent, dripping from her every word in toxic amounts. Kida's eyelids collapsed with another flinch, a burning sensation crawling over his skin.

"I tried…" His voice was feeble and barely exceeding a whisper, anguish drenching his voice.

A glance over her shoulder and he could see Izaya relishing in his pain. How much enjoyment he was withdrawing from this situation. He had won, like he always did.

Why couldn't she see that he had tried, that every amount of sanity he possessed had been screaming at him to move just an inch? Just one little bit further?

"It wasn't good enough." Her onyx eyes reflected the burning glow of fire behind him; however they remained bleak, lacking any hint of remorse. As she inclined her head slightly, allowing a few locks of her raven hair to bow into her eyes, a shadow spilled over her features.

He knew that. He had always known, it was always reminding him. He knew that it wasn't good enough. However, he couldn't permit the filthy words to touch the surrounding twilight.

It killed him to hear those words flood into his mind.

And while at first it had been much simpler to distribute the overbearing guilt onto others, anything to lessen the excruciating pain, he had always accepted that it was his to swallow. How easy it was to blame everyone. Izaya at first had been his main target, but it hadn't accomplished much. Even if he had spent hours, days dreaming of any other result, it was all in pathetic delusion.

In the end, she was battered and broken, and it all fell back onto him.

The sunshine scarf loosely tied around his neck represented to be a great deal more than a trivial portion of torn cloth. Along with it pursued the harshest of responsibilities and burdens, cruel decisions presented to be dancing between his fingertips. And any results to those verdicts he had composed were his to abide, even if at times he'd much rather not.

Of course he was always aware of this, though he never gave it much thought. It was much less problematic to simply push it to the back of his mind, to drown in the comfortable ambience he struggled to acquire. However, it appeared that at last these things had caught up to him.

And this was simply just another consequence he was having trouble accepting: just another competitor in the race he found himself running in, what lay at the finish unbeknownst to him.

If only his muscles would listen to the hysterical demands his mind was crafting, if only the soles of his shoes didn't feel if they had been fashioned out of stone. If only he had taken just one more step.

His beloved Saki wouldn't have spent her nights in the dim, unforgiving hospital bed that reeked an abhorrent blend of medicine and death. The sickening hues of blue and black wouldn't have stained her pale, fragile legs. She wouldn't have become the ruthless being that stood before him.

"Why can't you remember the good times?" he asked, his voice falling into a plea. "Saki, I love you."

She remained stoic to his undignified begging, any reputation he might have built floating away in the autumn breeze, twirling amongst the dead leaves dancing about. He reached out his quivering hands, attempting to wrap his fingers around hers, to feel her warmth spill across his skin.

A sneer twisted on her lips as she ripped herself from his grasp, glaring at the offending hands. "Obviously not enough."

Her spiteful words reverberated in the cavities of his mind, leaving the familiar sting. "Can't you just…?"

Kida didn't know how to end his words, or what he was even attempting to reason with her about. He just felt a need to say something, anything.

Her eyes narrowed at his hushed tone, one of her delicate hands poised imposing on her hip. "Was I supposed to forgive you? After all this, _forgiveness_?"

The vindictive front had consumed her, the own that Izaya had taught her so well, slithering into her mind and becoming more genuine as the seconds expired.

Kida's throat began to swell as he attempted to spit out any of the words harboured in the pit of his stomach, clamouring to be released. However, just in that moment that haunted his memories, he wasn't able to move anything. Like stone, he stood.

"Izaya-san, let's go." She allowed one last glance at the pitiful form in front of her before she sauntered in the black haired boy's direction.

"Of course~" the man sang while his lips curved into an amused smirk. He rested an arm around the girl's shoulders, a satisfied ambience surrounding him.

Masaomi remained stoic amid the sunset, each muscle tense and restricted in place. Inside he was screaming at himself to chase after her, to make any sort of attempt to stop her, but he couldn't.

_It was that one step he just couldn't take._

* * *

Well, this is kind of a spin off of the series, like an alternate ending to the anime.

I was in the mood for angst, and I thought this up. I'm sorry if I just ruined my favourite character.

D:

This is my first post on here, so I'd really love feedback~!


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